Journalists' Union of Turkey

Photo Illustration: Pixabay/Engin Akyurt

"The Constitutional Court ruled that the sentences given by the Press Advertising Agency to newspapers violated the freedom of the press. We call on the Advertising Agency to act on this ruling and for parliament to change the law that leads to arbitrariness," the Journalists' Union of Turkey, TGS, said on Friday.

A protester blows a whistle and holds a slogan by Amnesty International reading, 'Free media cannot be silenced' near the Turkish embassy in Berlin, May 3, 2017. Photo: EPA/CLEMENS BILAN

The so-called disinformation law will increase government control and censorship in media and social media platforms, Orhan Sener, head of the Journalists' Union of Turkey's academy, said.

Turkish Journalists' protest in Istanbul on June 21, 2022. Photo: Ufuk Ceri

Some 170 people, including journalists, were detained on Tuesday after Turkish police aggressively prevented people from marking the ninth anniversary of the Gezi Park protests in Istanbul.

The crowd was not allowed to enter Taksim Square and Gezi Park and police used violence to stop demonstrators, with barricades, tear gas and batons.

Members of the Turkish parliament in session at the Grand National Assembly in Ankara, 2 January 2020. Photo: EPA-EFE/STR

The law was prepared by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's ruling Justice and Development Party, AKP and its far-right partner, the Nationalist Movement Party, MHP.

Turkey marked May 3 International Press Freedom Day amid growing concerns for the state of press freedom in the country.

According to the Turkish Journalists Association (TGC), there are currently some 159 journalists in Turkish prisons. 

Journalists, lawmakers and representatives from several press unions and organizations marked Jan. 10, Working Journalists' Day, staging a march in central Istanbul.

Journalists, lawmakers and representatives from several press unions and organizations marked Jan. 10, Working Journalists' Day, staging a march in central Istanbul, with dozens of others having cycled along some part of the Bosphorus shoreline.